Friday, March 30, 2007

Well, did you think I forgot how to write?

I almost did. Part-time work doesn't always turn out to be part-time. But guess what...I almost didn't go in today.

Why, pray tell?

Because I woke up with a story on my brain. Not just on it, but swimming around the shallow waters of consciousness until I felt like I would burst if I didn't get some of it on paper. And so I gredgingly went in to work, cause like they expect to see me everday, but I sat at my desk for almost an hour and spewed out what I could before my hand cramped up because I was writing out longhand.

It was great. That feeling that the only thing that existed at that time was the story unfolding in my head. Man I missed that feeling.

And I actually liked that I didn't have time when I immediately woke up to write it all down, because then I would have missed out on "the stew". That's where I replay in my head the scene over and over because I'm afraid I'll forget parts before I can write it down. But in that process I end up working out things like setting, background, character traits, etc. By the time that I finally get to paper, then I have the "feel" of it.

I didn't stew enough with Ransom and I can feel the difference when I read it compared to the sequel and the Relation story. With Ransom, I seem to get lost and lose focus, like I'm trying too hard.

So, it's aside while I stew and write (going to try and do it at the same time) on Relation and the new one. Which I will call Regency, for now.

Guess why? Cause it's a Regency Romance. Whoo hoo!

I know. You're not as impressed as I am. And even though I don't know if I can do it, and it kinda scares me a little, I'm going to try.

Can't wait to send you progress updates. Hopefully the next three weeks will fly by.

P.S. I have set a goal to get published by 35. Who knows?

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Note to self:

"Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways."
- Edward de Bono

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

No writing to report, just lots of reading, and not much of it for my paper. But at least it is beautiful and sunny out. Spring kicked Winter's ass!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Although I am *supposed* to be concentrating on my linguistics paper—which I now have a topic for, WOOT!—my brain has inexplicably been full of my Cinderella story (which doesn’t have a name yet, drat the luck).

I started on an outline a couple of days ago, but I hit a block, as usual, after 2 (roughly 8x10) handwritten pages. The next day, I had to wash our quilt (thanks to the cat yakking on it—gross!); I challenged myself to finish the damn outline during the last 30 minutes of the cycle—and I did! I ended up with a little over 8 pages. I have everything that needs to *happen*, but I still need to jot down what needs to be *told* and start figuring out where I can put that info into the story.

Then when I was washing the dishes, bits of dialogue bubbled up to the surface of my brain, so I ended up taking lots of writing breaks. That brought my total up to 10 handwritten pages. Not bad, for me. It might actually end up as a story one of these years.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Someone on one of my email lists mentioned the stereotype of women as multi-taskers. In my case, it is definitely true (1). I don’t know if it’s because I am so great at multi-tasking, or if I just can’t sit still for longer than 20 minutes, but I constantly bounce from one thing to the next and back (or not) again.

(1) And John fits the opposite male stereotype: he can sit and work on one task to the exclusion of everything else until it is done.

I have especially noticed this in my writing. When I talk about my progress here, it is very rarely in terms of one large chunk of one story completed. More often I write a bit on 2 or 3 (or more) different stories. Like yesterday, for instance, I wrote a bit on Godred (more on that later), made notes for my Cinderella story, and reminded myself to look something up for my Dragon story. If I try to force it and write something straight through on one story, I get nothing.

On the writing list, people often point out that to be productive (en route to being professional), you have to push yourself to write more: more words, more often. I guess I am just not to that point yet. I don’t really see myself as a professional writer, so I don’t have any deadlines (self-imposed or otherwise) greasing the wheels in my brain; maybe instead of a stewpot writing process, I need a pressure cooker. It’s something to think about, anyway.

On to my Godred story! I’m slowly getting a line on Godred the character. I tried the “interview your character” tactic, but didn’t work so well. It felt fake, forced. You might say, “He’s your character! Just make something up!” But it doesn’t really work that way. If he is a certain way, there’s a reason for it, and his behavior has to be consistent with his personality *and* his history. A personality is a complex thing; you can’t just cobble together any old characteristics and expect the result to be a believable character.

So I tried working backwards. I had a “snapshot” in my head of Godred, but how did he get that way? I also had to find a way to reconcile 2 disparate traits that I found in him (but not the 2 I originally had). It finally occurred to me that I had to change the scene, not him. And then things started falling into place. I haven’t finished the scene, but I have a better picture of it now.

There has been yet another topic discussed on the writing list that I have been following with interest. One side espouses making every detail in a story do double duty (especially in short stories): provide information and advance the plot. The other side feels this is too clinical and that some details can basically be just window dressing.

I have to say that I rather favor the first approach. I lean toward a more sparse style, without a lot of extra detail, and sometimes without enough detail to pull the reader in. Oops. The beauty of this approach is that you have to think about which details you definitely have to include, and what the reader can infer from those details, and which details are interesting/creative/funny, but have no further purpose than your own entertainment. So as I have been thinking about Godred and the reformulation of certain scenes, I have been trying to keep track of what I have explicitly told the reader, what the purpose of that information is, and what I still need/want to say. It’s a bit of a juggling act, trying to find the right place for each detail, but it will be worth it in the end.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

I have tried repeatedly to revise LNR, but I would get a few paragraphs in and hit a block. I just had no idea what to do there. As you can imagine, this has been horribly frustrating. Right now, time isn’t a problem, but having a brain of mush definitely is.

So a couple of nights ago, I finally said, “The hell with corrections,” and just read the story straight through. I don’t know why I didn’t do that in the first place, but I guess I thought I knew where the problem areas where, and I was tackling the first one first.

The good news is that I finally realized: I finished a story! I always planned on adding one more segment, but even without it, it’s a complete story.

The bad news is that the problem areas are less specific areas and more the whole story. *sigh* But I’ve been feeling more optimistic since the read-through.

Then last night, the solution to the problem of the last segment came to me. I started writing on it, and I feel good about the change. For me, less is always going to be more. If I try to flesh out a scene, I feel like I’m bludgeoning the reader with details. So I’ll stick with my normal m.o. and see how that works out.

Monday, March 05, 2007

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."
-Anton Chekhov, short-story writer and dramatist (1860-1904)
"Waiting until everything is perfect before making a move is like waiting to start a trip until all the traffic lights are green."
- Karen Ireland